In conventional magnetic recording rigid disk drives, each of the read/write transducers (or heads) is supported on an air-bearing slider that rides on a cushion or bearing of air above the surface of its associated disk surface when the disk is rotating at its operating speed. The slider is connected to an actuator by means of a relatively fragile suspension. The suspension includes a gimbal or flexure that supports the slider and allows it to pitch and roll, and a load beam with a dimple or tip that applies a small force to bias the slider toward the disk surface. The slider has an air-bearing surface (ABS) designed to generate an air-bearing force to counteract the bias force from the load beam and thus assure that the slider “flies” above and out of contact with the disk surface.
More recently, continuous contact recording has been proposed that uses a head carrier in the form of a slider with an ABS that only partially supports the slider above the disk surface, with a rear portion of the slider that remains in contact with the disk surface during reading and writing of data. The interface between this type of continuous contact slider and the disk has been investigated by J. Itoh, et al., “An Experimental Investigation for Continuous Contact Recording Technology,” IEEE Trans. on Magnetics, vol. 37, No. 4 July 2001, p. 1806. Continuous contact recording head-suspension assemblies have been described in published patent application US2002/0024769. However, the prior art teaches that the contact force on the slider during continuous contact recording is made up of only a repulsive reactive force acting normal to the disk surface and a friction force acting parallel to the disk surface. Thus attempts at continuous contact recording have resulted in unacceptable friction and wear of the slider and disk at the slider-disk interface.
What is needed is continuous contact recording disk drive that does not suffer from unacceptable wear of the slider and disk and the slider-disk interface.